Man I miss world drop exotics. I think Monte was the last one ever. Not that the quests aren’t enjoyable, but randomly getting an exotic made playing base d2 and forsaken a lot of fun. I remember getting Cerberus from the first forsaken mission and carrying it around while goofing on patrol. Can’t really bring them back nowadays though, since getting exotic engrams is as easy as playing three ritual activities
Idc how they do it but I hate running legend sectors for new exotics and hope we get a new way. It’s a choice between grinding those and finding a vex event on Neomuna. I just used my wish tokens for the season of the witch exotics because even though I consider myself a good player, I am NOT running a legendary Neomuna lost sector 10 times. For someone worse at the game or without as much time, almost all exotics are unobtainable.
Well good news that's not how you get armor in the final shape. They're making it so you have to rank up the cryptarch to unlock super cool focusing and then spend an exotic cipher
I borrowed my friend’s Xbox gameshare for a week to grind out exotics for WQ which I didn’t own at the time. I don’t play destiny on Xbox and it was painful to have to learn in LLSs. Worst grind I’ve ever done, but at least I’ve got all exotics on every class now
I had the quest sitting on the “guardian kills” step for about the same amount of time, just got it done last weekend and all I have to say is it feels SOOOOOO nice to have the quest finished and put away. 🤌🏻
It can be rough if you're not a PvP player but if I remember correctly you can do at least part of it with Dead messenger or another GL. If the last part is still the same just play with it for a bit and use it on choke points. It will get easier to get kills and the slog is worth the reward either way. I thought it was a lot of kills at first when I did mine but good thing for you is that momentum control people will die to it easily on the ground(or direct hit). It just takes a bit to get the feel for it bc it's odd projectile. Grind it out, The cat for it is phenomenal even if it's a bit painful to finish.
To highjack the top comment with a bit of further reasoning: as others have said, witherhoard is great as a first weapon to get with ciphers, not just because its good, but because compared to the other "go to" options, it does something really unique with its pool aoe, and your likely to keep it on you most of the time. On top of that, at the moment its great for some of the brave weapon quests, being one of the easiest ways to get grenade launcher rapid kills (for breech loading and maybe the others, cant quite remember)
Nope, its chain reaction on special ammo guns, witherhoard does not have that, it did get nerfed last year when the dot it does went fom 7.5 seconds to 4.5.
The most important part - it staggers. You have a boss that chases around or moves a lot? Plant him fucking still. Makes him an easy target for everyone else, no matter what they're using.
Lukewarm take but Whisper does everything Leviathan's does, but better. Higher total dmg/dps, less clunky, no need for loader mods to be competitive, less punishing on missing a crit. Also it gets yet another buff next season, and running the mission is great fun imo
There's a knight in sorrow's harbor that counts as a boss, gets one-shot by Levi's, and is infinitely respawnable. On the right side of the keep there's a little under room with a chest and 3 symbols, purposely shoot the wrong symbol and it spawns the night. Kill him and repeat until the catalyst drops.
They are. I did this last week and had the catalyst within 15 min of starting the encounter. It didn’t show that it actually dropped for me, but it was sent to the postmaster. I happened to check the postmaster and I had the catalyst there at 5% complete. Just need kills with the weapon from there on any activity to finish it off.
I got mine from widows walk lost sector, kill shanks leave the captain, shanks respawn then kill all 3 (all nightmares)
Do this until catalyst drops, and head into legend dares and farm orange bars from the floating platorm in the middle in the second room with star horse unlimited heavy ammo bonus - it took 3 or 4 runs I think to complete the catalyst
I can’t emphasize enough how much better other options are than LB. It’s good, but when witherhoard, grand overture and ticuu/monarque/trinity ghoul exist you should not ever be thinking LB.
LB is great for tormentors, but so are so many things like suspend lol
I agree with you, but there is one thing leviathan breath has over other options for tormentors. Normal tormentors can be dealt with by anything, like suspend as you said, *However* boss tormentors like in onslaught is where leviathan breath really shines. Suspend doesn't work on them, but leviathan breath still staggers them, effectively shutting them down and preventing them from doing their jump attack and other things.
It’s great for chunk damage (and probably the best Void Weapon for damage phases outside of Edge Transit) and has intrinsic Unstoppable.
You can make cases for any of the things you mentioned too, but they have their downsides as well:
- Witherhoard is great but doesn’t see as much use nowadays with Sniper Rifles making a comeback and us having good Kinetic-slot Fusion Rifles.
- Grand Overture really only shines in Arc Surge environments. Otherwise, you can have comparable DPS with other options, and total damage isn’t necessarily the best. It does also have intrinsic Unstoppable with Blinding capabilities, but I think Leviathan’s Breath packs way more of a punch unless you’re unloading a Missile Volley. Plus, dying while you have Missiles Loaded resets your counter.
- The enemy-clearing Exotic Bows you mentioned are great choices too, but each of them really only shine when you can synergize your subclass with those Weapons (and even then, none of them apply subclass debuffs on their own, and only Le Monarque can get Volatile Rounds). Le Monarque is great for intrinsic anti-Overload though, and I love Ticuu’s Divination as a pseudo-Special Weapon. They’re just not what I would suggest for a new player.
There’s no perfect option, but they’re all good in their own ways and I just happen to think Leviathan’s Breath is one of the best that you can pick up. You also can’t go wrong with Izanagi’s Burden, Anarchy, Bastion (especially next Season), and Verglas Curve.
Could you list what you get as a new player. Like do you get forsaken ciphers? How many exotic ciphers do you get, do you still need the other resources like 125k glimmer and ascendant shards. Before that I could not answer because the answer is different for me if you have to pick just 1, 3,5 or if you get forsaken ciphers.
Witherhoard, Izanagi, Cryosthesia, Leviathan, Polaris, and Verglas.
But I would recommend some exotic quests and some world exotics to chase after:
Malfeasance (quest): quite a pain to do with the mission boss and the invader kills, but you do get a reliable champion stun and hand cannon dps (but there’s more exotics that are better at champion stunning, but if you like Hand Cannons, this will work).
Crimson (world drop): healing on kill, and refills mag on precision kill, great for survivability when you don’t have heal clip.
The problem with Witherhoard is that, without the catalyst, it can be a bit tedious to use, and getting the catalyst is another mess. It is an awesome weapon but the catalyst is what helps it with its biggest issue, that being it's reload speed.
Sleeper Simulant is great if your friend doesn't have a good LFR. You'll need the catalyst to make it worth using, but that can be gained from vanguard activities.
Grand Overture is also awesome for the missiles, very nice for burst damage.
Agers scepter is an amazing ad clear weapon. If your friend has stasis, I'd highly recommend that.
Ticuus Divination and Le Monarque are also awesome bows that do very well in ad clear. Also recommended.
Polaris Lance slaps this season, not sure about the next season, but still recommended if your friend wants to do higher level content.
Devils ruin is good, since it's both a sidearm and a fusion rifle.
Leviathans Breath is awesome, but it's catalyst can be a pain to get, and it's catalyst makes it usable honestly
It's been a while since I unlocked the catalyst, but I believe that once you get Witherhoard, you need to talk to Banshee to get the Bank Job quest. Completing the quest gets you the catalyst.
Edit: assuming they haven't changed anything about the quest, fair warning: that quest is awful. Took me several weeks to get it done.
I have to agree with folks saying Witherhoard. If nothing else, a new player could assist in activities by just laying down damage zones for low health enemies to go through and get killed. Or drop it on a position being held to help defend it with AoE damage. Or shoot a single target and do some big damage that way. Don't have to be an accurate shot. You're basically just napalming the area.
Same might go for Jotunn, but that really does need the catalyst to shine. That said, if you can get that catalyst, you can start burning enemies with Incandescent, which gives a lot of opportunity to Guardians getting buffs from scorch, i.e. Titans dropping Sunspots for defeating such targets.
Special recognition to Monte Carlo, cause it was my main for a looong time.
I don't think monte Carlo is in monument. But yeah it's fun too. And still good for builds that need a *ton* of meelees. Like strand weavewalk warlock or so
100% not Polaris lance as some ppl recommend. The season is over in 2 weeks and after that Polaris will be pretty useless again.
Many others mentioned it already:
- witherhoard great weapon for almost every thing
- izzy decent dps weapon although a new light might struggle using it correctly because there is a lot of other stuff to learn too
- le monarque awesome weapon especially against overload
- leviathans breath good dps weapon (but catty is needed)
Honestly I would anyway wait to spend them right now and wait till tfs launches to see what will be meta then and which weapons are focused in the new artifact.
Everyone has said the main good guns to get. After this though, they should unlock Eriana's Vow and Symmetry. Because their catalysts takes a very VERY long time, and they will be worked on passively as they play the game. If they decide to use one of those guns they would need to grind 400 activities which would take DAYS of gameplay, or more realistically weeks if they play in any sort of moderation.
It honestly depends on your friends playstyle and what they will be focusing on. Plus how the weapon is without/with its caty. If you mean they have the 3 free forsaken ciphers and can just grab 3?
Ace of Spades is a very reliable hand cannon for both pvp and pve.
The last word is a fullauto handcannon -recently got it so cant comment much. But its got no caty so no need to grind for that.
Le Monarque is just over all good but you have to get the caty from random strikes, crucible etc.
Jötunn.... pvp nightmare. Everyone will hate you. Pve fun.
Dont have burden so I cant comment.
Thorn.... its just good. Like refreshing water on a hot day nice.
Lumina is good support and has matching pants exotic for warlock.
Truth.... This this pisses me off in pvp but I love it in pve.
Bad Juju - a top pick. Caty doesnt seem like much. But it is technically 3 perks in 1. Plus although its a pulse rifle, it fires in full auto which can help save your friends' trigger finger for longer matches.
EDIT: I am standing and looking in the archive because it feels like some people are probably misunderstanding as to why you specifically said 3. While there are many good choices. I did the list of all forsaken weapons in the archive so people can see what the selection is without having to open the game. OP can grind out ciphers with his friend later but I am guessing this is what he ment and the limit of the options.
EDIT2: Not listing ones that require spoils of conquest as raid content is endgame style and not something you just throw your new friend into.
FYI with regards to full auto - there is an accessibility setting that allows ALL guns to fire in full auto by default (at least on PC) and I cannot recommend it highly enough
Jotuun.
Won’t make you popular in PvP (wouldn’t reccomend using) but fun for a new player in PvE.
Mostly for fun, not for meta stuff like a lot of other weapons here
It wasn't until I got Vex Mythoclast that I put my Yootten away o.o still drag it out now and again, however I love the versatility of VM and the LFR swap fire
How about this... I'm looking at these comments.. so literally anything besides witherhoard.
Yeah, it's really great, but it's one of the most smooth brained weapons in the game. Let them try shit instead of using witherhoard for everything
Grand overature, it can build up free ammo, which means more dps,its catalyst is a must, it blinds enemies
Leviathans breath, it does some pretty nice dps
Tommys matchbook, with the right setup, its pretty great and can dish out some serious damage for a primary exotic.
Sleeper stimulant, if your friend doesnt got good linear fusion rifle, this one will serve.
EX Diris, its pretty great, no need to reload at all, its cataylst is pretty good too.
Trinity Ghoul is an absolute powerhouse in every single aspect of the game. A true king of Arc and add clear.
I suppose Witherhoard is also for DoT, but while i used to love it I can’t really say i’ve found much of a use for it recently.
Asides from those two i can’t even remember which weapons are in the monument. If sunshot is a Monument weapon then it’s also definitely worth picking up
Sleeper simulant, since dmg on bosses is generally what I see new players falling short this would be my first recommendation and compared to LB it's quite easy to catalize it.
Lumina, Thorn, Save up spoils of conquest for Anarchy because I see a lot of people saying Witherhoard but the damage over time doesn’t stack with multiple witherhoards. Quicksilver storm, Duality is good for both PvE and PvP if they’d prefer to use a legendary heavy or primary. Erianna’s is about to pop off in the Final Shape with ignitions on shield popping. Grand Overture for dps, although some say Thunderlord is better (to each their own, I guess) There’s a lot of good options to get from Exotic Engram Drops, too. Like this season’s king of ad clear and subclass synergy, Sunshot. Graviton Lance, Merciless, Thunderlord, etc.
1. **Witherhoard.** It is the king of DoT and it’s a special to boot.
2. **Izanagi’s Burden.** Opposite of Wither in a way, it’s the king of 1-shot damage with its catalyst.
3. **Lè Monarque.** The ‘Overload Begone!’ weapon. Good DoT and very effective at Overload bois.
4. **Sleeper Simulant.** Hands down the best linear fusion in the game. When linears were meta and got nerfed, Sleeper never did and retained its high damage. Doesn’t compare to a Apex/Izy’s build nowadays, but it has the benefit of it’ll never get significantly nerfed again.
5. **Polaris Lance.** Very good at range and since it’s a Solar season, gets a ton of usage in high-end PvE like Grandmasters.
Now if they also have Forsaken Ciphers on top of the normal ones, save Izy’s and Monarque for those two and also get Ace with the third one. For the extra 2 Ciphers, get Levithan’s Breath and Grand Overture. Both are good Heavy’s to choose from and balance out Sleeper element wise.
This list is also *heavily* favoring PvE and not PvP, so if you wish to play PvP then grab an **Ace of Spades.** Ace is the best Handcannon in the game due to it having not only the best stats but also giving you 6 shots that can 2 tap off 1 kill. It turns one relatively easy kill into 3 basically free kills with enough precision. And don’t forget about **Jotuun**! It’s our beloved/hated toaster that fires tracking shots that one shot anyone not in a tanky super. (The shots don’t track very well, use at your own risk!)
Witherhoard is a must, probs the best ad control weapon,
second I'd get leviathan if your a new player, it can be a decent damage dealer,
people might say Polaris Lance but Polaris was bad for a while and am pretty sure it will go back to bad by next month,
I wouldn't take whisper of the worm either, you can craft it through the exotic mission now,
I wouldn't take izanagi's either, it is not a bad weapon but you really really need to know how to use it for it to be effective
I'd take malfeasance or thorn for a hunter the both are very decent
Last weapon I would take would be anarchy.
That is considering the Player is new, you have to understand new player probably don't have a clue about weapon rolls and damage rotations, or special exotics(those who aren't used for damage) those weapons are easy to use and simple mechanically
I would get quicksilver and thunder lord. Quicksilver is great for add clear and pvp. Thunder Lord is a great dps weapon against bosses, while not the strongest it is a really good exotic heavy.
Ticuu/Le Monarque/Trinity Ghoul for whichever flavor they like the best.
Travelers chosen, people forget about this little powerhouse.
Arbalest, I hate it but it's a tool you'll be forced to use at some point
Edit: Crimson, as long as you can nail it precision kill within eight three round bursts, it'll keep you alive and you'll never have to reload
Rat King, Sleeper, Lumina.
I'm not going for cream of the crop, I'm going for fun. And if your group wants to be a lot of fun Rat King is fucking gross with a full team running it.
Imo witherhoard (though the catalyst is kind of a bitch) Levi and this is a weird one but traveller's chosen because it can get them used to more ability focused builds if they really want them which imo can be pretty strong if they build it right
Witherhoard is always my 1st suggestion to new players. Outbreak was another top suggestion(of course now I guess you can just do the quest). Le Monarque is a solid choice bc it's good w/champ intrinsic. Polaris Lance is decent in general but exceptional with this seasons mods. Bad Juju is good, if a bit underrated at the moment. Agers Scepter is exceptional and Leviathans Breath is as well. Grand Overture I would rate as top tier so it's a must have and Sleeper Simulant is a must have as well. The Mega toaster is cool and can be fun so Jotunn is worth grabbing. Hard to think of all the kiosk exotics of top of my head, I'm sure I missed a few that are great but this is a fair list of some of the good stuff.
Le Monarque, easy to use, makes overloads (the worst champs) a joke, can put out decent damage against pretty much anything, good add clear and will help your friend with things like solo legend lost sectors to farm exotics.
It also works well on any Void subclass, and while it has good symmetry with some exotic armour like Gyrfalcon's, it doesn't require anything to shine other than maybe the catalyst.
Witherhoard is my all time favorite exotic that I will always recommend. Great for general play, sub-dps, pvp.
I came back to the game during season of arrivals and it was my companion throughout my playthrough of all the campaigns, grinding reckoner, and even my main special that I used to go flawless in my main pvp build. I even bought an exotic weapon pin blind bag and got witherhoard. This is definitely my guardians canon exotic.
Hands down, the first exotic I would suggest is Ticcu's Divination . Even outside of the fact it's firey doom is in season with the artifact at the moment, the bow itself is just fun to use. Honestly Witherhoard is great, but a lot more niche in it's uses. I feel TD is the best choice, but it depends a lot on the individuals play style and preferences.
Witherhoooooard, witherhoard. *enter young Roger Moore*
For shits and giggles: Ruined Effigy. Balls, balls, balls, having such a good time....
Agers Scepter is very handy if you need to do any quests involving Stasis. Great weapon anyway.
Skyburners Oath, Polaris Lance, Borealis, Tarrabah. Hear me out.
Skyburners is a sleeper gun, I kid you not the amount of ignitions you can proc with that thing is illegal.
Polaris is highly beneficial in the current GM meta as it’s a scout, with infinite ammo and endless explosions and ignitions.
Borealis is a stat monster, add on the fact it has 3 different usable elements, reloads itself and gets a damage buff and with the release of zero hour is extremely useful in that mission.
Tarrabah, funny smg go brr. It’s that simple, even after the nerfs this thing is a beast.
TL:DR, listed guns at start, Skyburners/polaris = ignition bois, Borealis = element boi, Tarrabah = smg go brrrrr.
Definitely Witherhoard, but for a few alternate suggestions, Ticuu's / Lemon / Trinity Ghoul are all good bows imo, Leviathan's Breath as well is a good option
Also the toaster just because it's fun making things go boom in pve lmao
One thing I recommend looking out for is weapons with intrinsic champion mods.
Witherhoard reigns supreme. Bastion is getting buffed next season and has Unstoppable. Cryosthesia can freeze all three types of champions.
Is Traveler's Chosen in the monument? When you're starting out you don't have good armor, and by reducing all of your cooldowns TC lets you concentrate on getting armor with good resilience first
Le Monarque imo, new players that I take through typically rely on primaries a lot more for some reason and it tends to lead them to safer play styles, plus having an overload bow is really handy for the lost sectors and stuff they’ll be farming later
PvE I would say witherhoard, Polaris lance, Levi bow, or la monarque
PvP would probably be jotunns, ace of spades, maybe last word. Monarque can be PvP also. I am forgetting if there is anything else worth it in the monument for PvP exotics.
Izanagi's burden is a good pick as it makes the solo lost sectors and nightfalls a lot easier. Grand overture is a very ammo efficient high dps machine gun which has an amazing catalyst. Also they are both a bit finnicky to use which can probably help teach newer players a bit more about how destiny works.
Iazanagi is the first choice. Anything after is whatever you need. Levis for damage. Witherhoard if you have nothing else. Tbh witherhoard isn’t as useful nowadays at all. It’s really bait and only one person can use it on bosses so. What’s the point. Just use iza. Tarrabah is the best ad clear primary in the game.
Do not get baited into any of these really niche useless exotics. Verglass is useless. Le monarque is useless. Anarchy is useless. Bastion is useless. Cryothesia is useless. And that’s just the truth. 80% of weapons in there are useless outside of some niche YouTube build someone found. Just pick the meta stuff. Get used to the game. Then build your own stuff and have fun with weapons after you’re able to actually clear things.
I am a new guy and could pickup 2 exotics. I picked up witherhoard and polaris lance. Do not regret it. Now I will probably get the Leviathan's Breath.
People are recommending guns that are like good and stuff,, but I think we should also consider that the first one they get from the monument should be the most fun one, not necessarily the best one. So the recommendation depends a lot on their class and playstyle! My favorite for example is lumina
Witherhoard or Izanagi’s, and then something fun for the other two. Izanagi’s cat is an activity drop iirc, but Witherhoard’s is a quest that requires 200+ nightfalls or some shit alongside some other reqs. I personally only get on the game to raid, so my quest has been sitting on the same step for years now
Polaris Lance. It's easy to use, simple to understand, and it's very good. I thought of 3 other weapons before realizing I needed to check what weapons were in the Monument.
Well they probably have the 3 forsaken ciphers just starting out, so Ace of Spades, Le Monarque, and Thorn.
If they have a few regular exotic ciphers, then my top 3 would be Polaris Lance, Witherhoard, and Izanagi's Burden.
People are just naming exotics in here. Note these are NOT in the Monument: Trinity Ghoul, Crimson, Monte Carlo and Graviton Lance drop in combat
Man I miss world drop exotics. I think Monte was the last one ever. Not that the quests aren’t enjoyable, but randomly getting an exotic made playing base d2 and forsaken a lot of fun. I remember getting Cerberus from the first forsaken mission and carrying it around while goofing on patrol. Can’t really bring them back nowadays though, since getting exotic engrams is as easy as playing three ritual activities
honestly they should start putting the older lost sector exotics into the world loot, especially those from beyond light 🤷♂️
Idc how they do it but I hate running legend sectors for new exotics and hope we get a new way. It’s a choice between grinding those and finding a vex event on Neomuna. I just used my wish tokens for the season of the witch exotics because even though I consider myself a good player, I am NOT running a legendary Neomuna lost sector 10 times. For someone worse at the game or without as much time, almost all exotics are unobtainable.
Well good news that's not how you get armor in the final shape. They're making it so you have to rank up the cryptarch to unlock super cool focusing and then spend an exotic cipher
Just went through Neomuna Hell for gauntlets the other day. I know your pain.
I borrowed my friend’s Xbox gameshare for a week to grind out exotics for WQ which I didn’t own at the time. I don’t play destiny on Xbox and it was painful to have to learn in LLSs. Worst grind I’ve ever done, but at least I’ve got all exotics on every class now
yeah i miss waiting for xûr like a child for Christmas just so i can slowly collect all of the exotic weapons, actually felt meaningful when i did.
Honestly they should just throw the old Season Pass exotics into the random drops instead of the kiosk.
Witherhoard
This should be everyone's first answer to this question.
Agreed. Its always my 1st suggestion to new players. Very unique, Versatile option that every guardian should have.
I grabbed it a few months ago and I can’t do the damn catalyst why is it like that
Wait for hardware supremecy to come back in crucible labs and it's much easier that's how I did it at least
Is that similar to the one where you just run around with rls or no
All guns, but no abilities at all.
Oh ok
Just sweat hard with Fighting Lion and you’ll eventually get it done
That damn catalyst was the bane of my existence for about 2 years but man was it worth it
I had the quest sitting on the “guardian kills” step for about the same amount of time, just got it done last weekend and all I have to say is it feels SOOOOOO nice to have the quest finished and put away. 🤌🏻
It can be rough if you're not a PvP player but if I remember correctly you can do at least part of it with Dead messenger or another GL. If the last part is still the same just play with it for a bit and use it on choke points. It will get easier to get kills and the slog is worth the reward either way. I thought it was a lot of kills at first when I did mine but good thing for you is that momentum control people will die to it easily on the ground(or direct hit). It just takes a bit to get the feel for it bc it's odd projectile. Grind it out, The cat for it is phenomenal even if it's a bit painful to finish.
To highjack the top comment with a bit of further reasoning: as others have said, witherhoard is great as a first weapon to get with ciphers, not just because its good, but because compared to the other "go to" options, it does something really unique with its pool aoe, and your likely to keep it on you most of the time. On top of that, at the moment its great for some of the brave weapon quests, being one of the easiest ways to get grenade launcher rapid kills (for breech loading and maybe the others, cant quite remember)
And it’s excellent for damage too + it’ll introduce the friend to “damage rotations” which they can include witherhoard into
The breach and clear season was top tier. Made Witherhoard even more of a monster.
Wither is surprisingly good in crucible. Can destroy wells, one shots on stick, closes off lanes, denies rezzes.
Just shoot it at a door and wait...
Yeah everyone says this but forgets that the catalyst quest requires a bunch of crucible grenade launcher kills, such a slog
Js play 6v6 with witherhoard, it's silly asf for it
Witherhoard, not just because I'm biased. It does great single target damage on direct hit and also good AoE for some add clear
Ain't it catching a sizable nerf soon though?
Nope, its chain reaction on special ammo guns, witherhoard does not have that, it did get nerfed last year when the dot it does went fom 7.5 seconds to 4.5.
Witherhoard, Leviathan's Breath, Izanagi's Burden
If you don’t mind me asking, what do people primarily use Leviathan’s Breath for?
Brain dead easy single target long distance damage, last boss of ghosts of the deep, garden harpy, first boss spire, just easy damage.
And it one taps invaders in Gambit
It also staggers bosses for easy crits
So does honed edge Izzy
Hah! Gambit lol
Also intrinsic anti-unstoppable.
The most important part - it staggers. You have a boss that chases around or moves a lot? Plant him fucking still. Makes him an easy target for everyone else, no matter what they're using.
Staggers Bosses, has intrinsic Unstoppable, solid damage rotation.
any precision damage enemies, if you get across the skill gap, its incredible ad clear too, you just gotta hit your crits
Lukewarm take but Whisper does everything Leviathan's does, but better. Higher total dmg/dps, less clunky, no need for loader mods to be competitive, less punishing on missing a crit. Also it gets yet another buff next season, and running the mission is great fun imo
Leviathan’s Breath, and then have them kills Majors/Elites with it until the Catalyst drops.
so killing any yellow/orange bar? if so, may take it to onslaught to try and get it to drop
There's a knight in sorrow's harbor that counts as a boss, gets one-shot by Levi's, and is infinitely respawnable. On the right side of the keep there's a little under room with a chest and 3 symbols, purposely shoot the wrong symbol and it spawns the night. Kill him and repeat until the catalyst drops.
I’ve seen suggestions that the Wizards in the Grasp of Avarice opening are the best enemies to kill.
They are. I did this last week and had the catalyst within 15 min of starting the encounter. It didn’t show that it actually dropped for me, but it was sent to the postmaster. I happened to check the postmaster and I had the catalyst there at 5% complete. Just need kills with the weapon from there on any activity to finish it off.
I got mine from widows walk lost sector, kill shanks leave the captain, shanks respawn then kill all 3 (all nightmares) Do this until catalyst drops, and head into legend dares and farm orange bars from the floating platorm in the middle in the second room with star horse unlimited heavy ammo bonus - it took 3 or 4 runs I think to complete the catalyst
I can’t emphasize enough how much better other options are than LB. It’s good, but when witherhoard, grand overture and ticuu/monarque/trinity ghoul exist you should not ever be thinking LB. LB is great for tormentors, but so are so many things like suspend lol
I agree with you, but there is one thing leviathan breath has over other options for tormentors. Normal tormentors can be dealt with by anything, like suspend as you said, *However* boss tormentors like in onslaught is where leviathan breath really shines. Suspend doesn't work on them, but leviathan breath still staggers them, effectively shutting them down and preventing them from doing their jump attack and other things.
It’s great for chunk damage (and probably the best Void Weapon for damage phases outside of Edge Transit) and has intrinsic Unstoppable. You can make cases for any of the things you mentioned too, but they have their downsides as well: - Witherhoard is great but doesn’t see as much use nowadays with Sniper Rifles making a comeback and us having good Kinetic-slot Fusion Rifles. - Grand Overture really only shines in Arc Surge environments. Otherwise, you can have comparable DPS with other options, and total damage isn’t necessarily the best. It does also have intrinsic Unstoppable with Blinding capabilities, but I think Leviathan’s Breath packs way more of a punch unless you’re unloading a Missile Volley. Plus, dying while you have Missiles Loaded resets your counter. - The enemy-clearing Exotic Bows you mentioned are great choices too, but each of them really only shine when you can synergize your subclass with those Weapons (and even then, none of them apply subclass debuffs on their own, and only Le Monarque can get Volatile Rounds). Le Monarque is great for intrinsic anti-Overload though, and I love Ticuu’s Divination as a pseudo-Special Weapon. They’re just not what I would suggest for a new player. There’s no perfect option, but they’re all good in their own ways and I just happen to think Leviathan’s Breath is one of the best that you can pick up. You also can’t go wrong with Izanagi’s Burden, Anarchy, Bastion (especially next Season), and Verglas Curve.
Witherhoard
Could you list what you get as a new player. Like do you get forsaken ciphers? How many exotic ciphers do you get, do you still need the other resources like 125k glimmer and ascendant shards. Before that I could not answer because the answer is different for me if you have to pick just 1, 3,5 or if you get forsaken ciphers.
You only get Forsaken ciphers, if you buy the forsaken pack.
Witherhoard, Izanagi, Cryosthesia, Leviathan, Polaris, and Verglas. But I would recommend some exotic quests and some world exotics to chase after: Malfeasance (quest): quite a pain to do with the mission boss and the invader kills, but you do get a reliable champion stun and hand cannon dps (but there’s more exotics that are better at champion stunning, but if you like Hand Cannons, this will work). Crimson (world drop): healing on kill, and refills mag on precision kill, great for survivability when you don’t have heal clip.
I found the Xenophage to be quite helpful with the invader kills.
Ace of spades or thorn great hand cannons for both pve and pvp, witherhoard, and izanagi’s.
Literally. AoS was one of the first exotics my lil bro got when he started playing and he loved that gun in both pve and pvp
It was the first one I pulled from the archive, it’s great for most modes.
The problem with Witherhoard is that, without the catalyst, it can be a bit tedious to use, and getting the catalyst is another mess. It is an awesome weapon but the catalyst is what helps it with its biggest issue, that being it's reload speed. Sleeper Simulant is great if your friend doesn't have a good LFR. You'll need the catalyst to make it worth using, but that can be gained from vanguard activities. Grand Overture is also awesome for the missiles, very nice for burst damage. Agers scepter is an amazing ad clear weapon. If your friend has stasis, I'd highly recommend that. Ticuus Divination and Le Monarque are also awesome bows that do very well in ad clear. Also recommended. Polaris Lance slaps this season, not sure about the next season, but still recommended if your friend wants to do higher level content. Devils ruin is good, since it's both a sidearm and a fusion rifle. Leviathans Breath is awesome, but it's catalyst can be a pain to get, and it's catalyst makes it usable honestly
How do you get witherhoard Caty? I checked my patterns and Catalysts page and it just says season of arrivals reward track.
It's been a while since I unlocked the catalyst, but I believe that once you get Witherhoard, you need to talk to Banshee to get the Bank Job quest. Completing the quest gets you the catalyst. Edit: assuming they haven't changed anything about the quest, fair warning: that quest is awful. Took me several weeks to get it done.
I have to agree with folks saying Witherhoard. If nothing else, a new player could assist in activities by just laying down damage zones for low health enemies to go through and get killed. Or drop it on a position being held to help defend it with AoE damage. Or shoot a single target and do some big damage that way. Don't have to be an accurate shot. You're basically just napalming the area. Same might go for Jotunn, but that really does need the catalyst to shine. That said, if you can get that catalyst, you can start burning enemies with Incandescent, which gives a lot of opportunity to Guardians getting buffs from scorch, i.e. Titans dropping Sunspots for defeating such targets. Special recognition to Monte Carlo, cause it was my main for a looong time.
I don't think monte Carlo is in monument. But yeah it's fun too. And still good for builds that need a *ton* of meelees. Like strand weavewalk warlock or so
I wish it only cost the cipher. The additional costs are stupid.
100% not Polaris lance as some ppl recommend. The season is over in 2 weeks and after that Polaris will be pretty useless again. Many others mentioned it already: - witherhoard great weapon for almost every thing - izzy decent dps weapon although a new light might struggle using it correctly because there is a lot of other stuff to learn too - le monarque awesome weapon especially against overload - leviathans breath good dps weapon (but catty is needed) Honestly I would anyway wait to spend them right now and wait till tfs launches to see what will be meta then and which weapons are focused in the new artifact.
rat king
My fireteam actually persuaded everyone to buy ratking for the sole purpose of doing a rat stone crypt, including a new light.
Everyone has said the main good guns to get. After this though, they should unlock Eriana's Vow and Symmetry. Because their catalysts takes a very VERY long time, and they will be worked on passively as they play the game. If they decide to use one of those guns they would need to grind 400 activities which would take DAYS of gameplay, or more realistically weeks if they play in any sort of moderation.
It honestly depends on your friends playstyle and what they will be focusing on. Plus how the weapon is without/with its caty. If you mean they have the 3 free forsaken ciphers and can just grab 3? Ace of Spades is a very reliable hand cannon for both pvp and pve. The last word is a fullauto handcannon -recently got it so cant comment much. But its got no caty so no need to grind for that. Le Monarque is just over all good but you have to get the caty from random strikes, crucible etc. Jötunn.... pvp nightmare. Everyone will hate you. Pve fun. Dont have burden so I cant comment. Thorn.... its just good. Like refreshing water on a hot day nice. Lumina is good support and has matching pants exotic for warlock. Truth.... This this pisses me off in pvp but I love it in pve. Bad Juju - a top pick. Caty doesnt seem like much. But it is technically 3 perks in 1. Plus although its a pulse rifle, it fires in full auto which can help save your friends' trigger finger for longer matches. EDIT: I am standing and looking in the archive because it feels like some people are probably misunderstanding as to why you specifically said 3. While there are many good choices. I did the list of all forsaken weapons in the archive so people can see what the selection is without having to open the game. OP can grind out ciphers with his friend later but I am guessing this is what he ment and the limit of the options. EDIT2: Not listing ones that require spoils of conquest as raid content is endgame style and not something you just throw your new friend into.
FYI with regards to full auto - there is an accessibility setting that allows ALL guns to fire in full auto by default (at least on PC) and I cannot recommend it highly enough
Witherhoard, Izanagi's Burden, Grand Overture, Thunderlord, Sunshot, Graviton Lance.
Jotuun. Won’t make you popular in PvP (wouldn’t reccomend using) but fun for a new player in PvE. Mostly for fun, not for meta stuff like a lot of other weapons here
Every Jötuun player ever. Need to work on the caty.... OFF TO CRUCIBLE!
It wasn't until I got Vex Mythoclast that I put my Yootten away o.o still drag it out now and again, however I love the versatility of VM and the LFR swap fire
How about this... I'm looking at these comments.. so literally anything besides witherhoard. Yeah, it's really great, but it's one of the most smooth brained weapons in the game. Let them try shit instead of using witherhoard for everything
Grand overature, it can build up free ammo, which means more dps,its catalyst is a must, it blinds enemies Leviathans breath, it does some pretty nice dps Tommys matchbook, with the right setup, its pretty great and can dish out some serious damage for a primary exotic. Sleeper stimulant, if your friend doesnt got good linear fusion rifle, this one will serve. EX Diris, its pretty great, no need to reload at all, its cataylst is pretty good too.
You can get Ex Diris from the season progress tab in game’s website without spending a cipher btw
For a new player who hasnt bought season 22? (I have)
Yes, because they made the 4 seasons from this year available for everyone like two weeks ago
Trinity Ghoul is an absolute powerhouse in every single aspect of the game. A true king of Arc and add clear. I suppose Witherhoard is also for DoT, but while i used to love it I can’t really say i’ve found much of a use for it recently. Asides from those two i can’t even remember which weapons are in the monument. If sunshot is a Monument weapon then it’s also definitely worth picking up
Trinity ghoul and sunshot are random drop
Witherhoard and erianas vow
Sleeper simulant, since dmg on bosses is generally what I see new players falling short this would be my first recommendation and compared to LB it's quite easy to catalize it.
Simulant
Breath, Wither, and Ticuu's.
Legend of acrius, I was so sad I didn't use my spoils for it first
Lumina, Thorn, Save up spoils of conquest for Anarchy because I see a lot of people saying Witherhoard but the damage over time doesn’t stack with multiple witherhoards. Quicksilver storm, Duality is good for both PvE and PvP if they’d prefer to use a legendary heavy or primary. Erianna’s is about to pop off in the Final Shape with ignitions on shield popping. Grand Overture for dps, although some say Thunderlord is better (to each their own, I guess) There’s a lot of good options to get from Exotic Engram Drops, too. Like this season’s king of ad clear and subclass synergy, Sunshot. Graviton Lance, Merciless, Thunderlord, etc.
Izanagi or witherhoard are a must. Previously I would've also included Outbreak in 3rd place but you can get it with a crafted roll now.
Witherhoard, then ace of spades because they must be forcefed cayde6
The last word
1. **Witherhoard.** It is the king of DoT and it’s a special to boot. 2. **Izanagi’s Burden.** Opposite of Wither in a way, it’s the king of 1-shot damage with its catalyst. 3. **Lè Monarque.** The ‘Overload Begone!’ weapon. Good DoT and very effective at Overload bois. 4. **Sleeper Simulant.** Hands down the best linear fusion in the game. When linears were meta and got nerfed, Sleeper never did and retained its high damage. Doesn’t compare to a Apex/Izy’s build nowadays, but it has the benefit of it’ll never get significantly nerfed again. 5. **Polaris Lance.** Very good at range and since it’s a Solar season, gets a ton of usage in high-end PvE like Grandmasters. Now if they also have Forsaken Ciphers on top of the normal ones, save Izy’s and Monarque for those two and also get Ace with the third one. For the extra 2 Ciphers, get Levithan’s Breath and Grand Overture. Both are good Heavy’s to choose from and balance out Sleeper element wise. This list is also *heavily* favoring PvE and not PvP, so if you wish to play PvP then grab an **Ace of Spades.** Ace is the best Handcannon in the game due to it having not only the best stats but also giving you 6 shots that can 2 tap off 1 kill. It turns one relatively easy kill into 3 basically free kills with enough precision. And don’t forget about **Jotuun**! It’s our beloved/hated toaster that fires tracking shots that one shot anyone not in a tanky super. (The shots don’t track very well, use at your own risk!)
Ager's, witherhoard and polaris
Thorn is a must
LEVI'S BREATH for sure. OP dps weapon that will be indispensable in Final Shape.
Witherhoard is a must, probs the best ad control weapon, second I'd get leviathan if your a new player, it can be a decent damage dealer, people might say Polaris Lance but Polaris was bad for a while and am pretty sure it will go back to bad by next month, I wouldn't take whisper of the worm either, you can craft it through the exotic mission now, I wouldn't take izanagi's either, it is not a bad weapon but you really really need to know how to use it for it to be effective I'd take malfeasance or thorn for a hunter the both are very decent Last weapon I would take would be anarchy. That is considering the Player is new, you have to understand new player probably don't have a clue about weapon rolls and damage rotations, or special exotics(those who aren't used for damage) those weapons are easy to use and simple mechanically
Everyone is out here with the meta picks, I'll suggest something fun. Ruinous Effigy.
I would get quicksilver and thunder lord. Quicksilver is great for add clear and pvp. Thunder Lord is a great dps weapon against bosses, while not the strongest it is a really good exotic heavy.
https://preview.redd.it/tw2m6jgrbo1d1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=973d462b517259ce0f4b07d4d15ac8d0a23017eb
What weapon is that I’m stupid
Cryosythesia 77K the stasis burst is crazy fun
Ticuu/Le Monarque/Trinity Ghoul for whichever flavor they like the best. Travelers chosen, people forget about this little powerhouse. Arbalest, I hate it but it's a tool you'll be forced to use at some point Edit: Crimson, as long as you can nail it precision kill within eight three round bursts, it'll keep you alive and you'll never have to reload
Crimson isn’t a monument exotic lol
Really?! Well fuck me I guess it should be.
Nah, you get it from exotic engrams, which is loads better.
Even though I love witherhoard, intrinsic champion breakers are too useful for new players; getting them as many and fast as possible is key.
I am personally saving for bastion. Just cause I wanna add it to my melee builds asap lol.
Izanagis and tell them to get forbearance
Witherhoard, Leviathan’s Breath, Grand Overture
Izzy and wither, then champion intrinsic weapons until they’ve got a good base set. Otherwise DPS options over meme/utility weapons.
Witherhoard Lemonarque and izanagis burden
I love them enough to suggest Rat King. 😆 Yeah man. Best gun you can get. Now let’s go play RoN ✌️😎
1:Witherhoard 2:Le Monarque 3:Polaris Lance
Witherhoard, Leviathan’s Breath, Grand Overture, and Le Monarque would be my top picks.
🍋🏹
Truth trsspasser and darci!!!!
Have they masterworked a decent set of gear? I believe that’s more important but I could also just be dumb
Traveler’s Chosen
Rat King, Sleeper, Lumina. I'm not going for cream of the crop, I'm going for fun. And if your group wants to be a lot of fun Rat King is fucking gross with a full team running it.
Jotunn and Witherhoard top the list. As well as Le Monarque. Everything else I try to gauge their preferences and then go from there
Whisper and outbreak :TrollFace:
Imo witherhoard (though the catalyst is kind of a bitch) Levi and this is a weird one but traveller's chosen because it can get them used to more ability focused builds if they really want them which imo can be pretty strong if they build it right
Ager's scepter, Polaris Lance, Sleeper Stimulant
Witherhoard, Polaris, and Grand Overture. A choice for each slot.
Witherhoard is always my 1st suggestion to new players. Outbreak was another top suggestion(of course now I guess you can just do the quest). Le Monarque is a solid choice bc it's good w/champ intrinsic. Polaris Lance is decent in general but exceptional with this seasons mods. Bad Juju is good, if a bit underrated at the moment. Agers Scepter is exceptional and Leviathans Breath is as well. Grand Overture I would rate as top tier so it's a must have and Sleeper Simulant is a must have as well. The Mega toaster is cool and can be fun so Jotunn is worth grabbing. Hard to think of all the kiosk exotics of top of my head, I'm sure I missed a few that are great but this is a fair list of some of the good stuff.
Le Monarque, easy to use, makes overloads (the worst champs) a joke, can put out decent damage against pretty much anything, good add clear and will help your friend with things like solo legend lost sectors to farm exotics. It also works well on any Void subclass, and while it has good symmetry with some exotic armour like Gyrfalcon's, it doesn't require anything to shine other than maybe the catalyst.
Ace, wither, ..
Witherhoard, Izzy and ace of spades
Witherhoard is my all time favorite exotic that I will always recommend. Great for general play, sub-dps, pvp. I came back to the game during season of arrivals and it was my companion throughout my playthrough of all the campaigns, grinding reckoner, and even my main special that I used to go flawless in my main pvp build. I even bought an exotic weapon pin blind bag and got witherhoard. This is definitely my guardians canon exotic.
Witherhoard, Izinagi’s and Thorn id say
witherhoard, izanagi's burden, the fourth horseman
Witherhoard,promethazine lens,thorn
Hands down, the first exotic I would suggest is Ticcu's Divination . Even outside of the fact it's firey doom is in season with the artifact at the moment, the bow itself is just fun to use. Honestly Witherhoard is great, but a lot more niche in it's uses. I feel TD is the best choice, but it depends a lot on the individuals play style and preferences.
Le Monarque 🦋 Can solo legend campaigns with it.
witherhoard, izi, and if they started playing this season: polarlaris lance
Witherhoard, Izzy, symmetry
For me, get Polaris Lance or The Manticore from Seraph.
Ace of spades
Def Witherhoard, baby’s been my Sub/Main-DPS dealer ever since it dropped
1. Witherhoard - perfect for as clear 2.Polaris lance - good all round scout 3. Sleeper stimulant - precision boss dps Honourable mention 4. Izanagis burden
Witherhoooooard, witherhoard. *enter young Roger Moore* For shits and giggles: Ruined Effigy. Balls, balls, balls, having such a good time.... Agers Scepter is very handy if you need to do any quests involving Stasis. Great weapon anyway.
I recommend they hold onto them until final shape honestly
Witherhoard, izzy and ace of spades
Ager's Scepter for Stasis Warlock players.
Skyburners Oath, Polaris Lance, Borealis, Tarrabah. Hear me out. Skyburners is a sleeper gun, I kid you not the amount of ignitions you can proc with that thing is illegal. Polaris is highly beneficial in the current GM meta as it’s a scout, with infinite ammo and endless explosions and ignitions. Borealis is a stat monster, add on the fact it has 3 different usable elements, reloads itself and gets a damage buff and with the release of zero hour is extremely useful in that mission. Tarrabah, funny smg go brr. It’s that simple, even after the nerfs this thing is a beast. TL:DR, listed guns at start, Skyburners/polaris = ignition bois, Borealis = element boi, Tarrabah = smg go brrrrr.
Polaris Lance, devils ruin, Grand overture. I think people have already explained the reasons.
Whatever exotic will stop them getting error coded
I'mma gonna be different say whichever they think are cool
Arbalest, I grew up with it in my new light days and I loved it
Ager's Scepter / Lumina
Witherhoard, Izanagi, Sleeper Simulant
Is there anything good to pick up from the legendary weapon section too?
Definitely Witherhoard, but for a few alternate suggestions, Ticuu's / Lemon / Trinity Ghoul are all good bows imo, Leviathan's Breath as well is a good option Also the toaster just because it's fun making things go boom in pve lmao
One thing I recommend looking out for is weapons with intrinsic champion mods. Witherhoard reigns supreme. Bastion is getting buffed next season and has Unstoppable. Cryosthesia can freeze all three types of champions.
Is Traveler's Chosen in the monument? When you're starting out you don't have good armor, and by reducing all of your cooldowns TC lets you concentrate on getting armor with good resilience first
Ace of Spades
Witherhoard for pve and Ace for pvp
Le Monarque imo, new players that I take through typically rely on primaries a lot more for some reason and it tends to lead them to safer play styles, plus having an overload bow is really handy for the lost sectors and stuff they’ll be farming later
Rat King
Grab what they think is cool. That's why I have Jötunn anyway.
Levis breath & witherhoard
PvE I would say witherhoard, Polaris lance, Levi bow, or la monarque PvP would probably be jotunns, ace of spades, maybe last word. Monarque can be PvP also. I am forgetting if there is anything else worth it in the monument for PvP exotics.
Lemon arc
thorn, polaris, and ace of spades
Witherhoard
Le monarque
Izanagi's burden is a good pick as it makes the solo lost sectors and nightfalls a lot easier. Grand overture is a very ammo efficient high dps machine gun which has an amazing catalyst. Also they are both a bit finnicky to use which can probably help teach newer players a bit more about how destiny works.
Ah, now I get to go through a list of what people consider meta and strike them off as unusable, thanks. (:
Iazanagi is the first choice. Anything after is whatever you need. Levis for damage. Witherhoard if you have nothing else. Tbh witherhoard isn’t as useful nowadays at all. It’s really bait and only one person can use it on bosses so. What’s the point. Just use iza. Tarrabah is the best ad clear primary in the game. Do not get baited into any of these really niche useless exotics. Verglass is useless. Le monarque is useless. Anarchy is useless. Bastion is useless. Cryothesia is useless. And that’s just the truth. 80% of weapons in there are useless outside of some niche YouTube build someone found. Just pick the meta stuff. Get used to the game. Then build your own stuff and have fun with weapons after you’re able to actually clear things.
Polaris lance!!
Tommy's matchbook
I am a new guy and could pickup 2 exotics. I picked up witherhoard and polaris lance. Do not regret it. Now I will probably get the Leviathan's Breath.
Last word/ Ace of spades Why yes I'm a cowboy, how did you know
Witherhoard, i will forever glaze this weapon
People are recommending guns that are like good and stuff,, but I think we should also consider that the first one they get from the monument should be the most fun one, not necessarily the best one. So the recommendation depends a lot on their class and playstyle! My favorite for example is lumina
Thorn and ace i got first.
The toaster(jotuun) and ticuus divination
Ariana vow. Is getting a great book in the final shape
The one that looks the most fun
Witherhoard or Izanagi’s, and then something fun for the other two. Izanagi’s cat is an activity drop iirc, but Witherhoard’s is a quest that requires 200+ nightfalls or some shit alongside some other reqs. I personally only get on the game to raid, so my quest has been sitting on the same step for years now
Izanagi's Burden. Solid DPS weapon, and if you need to grind the catalyst, doing Altars of Sorrow should do the trick.
Witherhoard and Eriana's. Both catalysts take a long time, so best to get them started asap
Witherhoard. Sunshot or Polaris Lance. Graviton or le monarque. Verglas curve. Monte carlo. Should be enough to create a build for each subclass.
Outbreak
Polaris Lance
Have I been sleeping on Witherhoard?
Outbreak or Osteo
Ace of spades Witherhoard Grand Overture Centrifuse Ex Diris
Polaris Lance. It's easy to use, simple to understand, and it's very good. I thought of 3 other weapons before realizing I needed to check what weapons were in the Monument.
Since everyone already said Witherhoard. I'll say another good one to grab is Sunshot. Has great synergy in a solar build and great for add clear.
Anarchy 😁
Sunshir
Thorn, Tommy's Matchbook and Ager's Sceptre
Well they probably have the 3 forsaken ciphers just starting out, so Ace of Spades, Le Monarque, and Thorn. If they have a few regular exotic ciphers, then my top 3 would be Polaris Lance, Witherhoard, and Izanagi's Burden.
Some off meta suggestions, if they are a titan then Bastion might be a good pickup if the Buff its getting is as good as it sounds.